DAVE Hughes was shocked when his co-host Kate Langbroek told him she’d discovered he was getting paid 40 per cent more.

RADIO personality Dave Hughes has revealed he took a pay cut to ensure that his long-time radio co-host, Kate Langbroek, would get pay parity.

The duo, who currently host the national drive show on KIIS FM before jumping to the Hit Network next year, spoke candidly about their contracts on air yesterday.

In the chat, they replayed parts of a conversation they had on their show on International Women’s Day in March this year when Langbroek revealed she had discovered she was being paid much less than Hughes.

“You don’t know about this,” she said on air at the time.

“This is an example of International Women’s Day. This is heavy hitting. I found out last year that you get paid 40 per cent more than I do for doing this show.”

Hughes was audibly stunned and didn’t know what to say in response.

“I had no idea what we get paid,” he told Langbroek, “now I feel terrible”.

“You don’t need to feel terrible,” Langbroek told Hughes. “It wasn’t your fault that you were born with two oranges in a string bag [testicles]”.

Hughes said on air yesterday that he was “reeling” when Langbroek blindsided him on air with the contract discussion.

“We’ve never discussed money over our journey together,” he said.

As soon as Langbroek found out about the massive pay difference in 2016, she immediately raised it with her bosses at KIIS FM and was paid the same as Hughes for the remainder of that year.

But sources told news.com.au that Hughes had already locked in his salary for 2017 with KIIS FM when he found out about the disparity. As a result, he offered to accept less this year to ensure Langbroek would be paid the same.

The duo said on air yesterday that they do discuss money now and when they signed their deal with the Hit Network for 2018 they made sure from the outset that they’d be getting the same amount.

“When we go to our new job, we get pay parity,” Langbroek said on air yesterday. “And we’re on parity now.

In the wake of Lisa Wilkinson’s departure from Channel 9s Today show that was partly due to the pay disparity with Karl Stefanovic, Langbroek urged men in the entertainment business with female co-hosts to lead the charge for equal pay.

“If you’re going to have a working partnership with someone, if you really care about women not being paid the same, men have to stand up and make it happen,” she said.

“Because men are the ones who are drawing up the pay packets, generally.”

Hughes added: “And sometimes that might mean men might get paid less than what they might have got to make sure that what’s fair is fair.”